Tobacco

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Smoking Tobacco in Lithuania

Aug 2014|Pages: 28

Price: US$990

About this Report

Executive Summary

TRENDS

Despite tightening regulatory grip on cigarettes, smoking tobacco did not emerge as a winner, as some expected. Similarly as with cigars and cigarillos, the category suffers from the fact that their hands were tied before they could make their products popular amongst Lithuanians. Whereas cigarette producers have to persuade consumers to continue with their habits, smoking tobacco sellers are tasked with essentially creating the category from scratch. To make matters worse, those who consume smoking tobacco are very price-sensitive, which occurred once again in 2013. Of the two types, only pipe tobacco has traditionally been consumed in Lithuania, but this is a habit of older people whose numbers are in decline and not being replaced with new ones.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Skonis ir Kvapas, the country's undisputed leader amongst tobacco specialists, was clearly in control of selling smoking tobacco, as both older pipe-smoking elders and hip urban RYO smokers frequent Skonis ir Kvapas stores once they run out of stock.

PROSPECTS

Smoking tobacco is expected to rebound swiftly from the temporary slump of 2013, as there is no underlying cause for the prolonged weakness. Further excise increases are already public, with price jumps predicted at the start of 2015 and 2018, but these are expected to lead to uneven purchasing quantities and not deter smokers from their habits.